Rating: 
Summary: Some of these folks need to serve jail time
Review: Cruver was an inside witness to the greatest act of economic terrorism ever. Enron had hired nothing but the best and the brightest. They bragged about letting go 15% of the workforce every six months; those who could not measure up to the intense standards of competitiveness set by their colleagues and supervisors. Of course, this pressure has been suggested by some to be one of the root causes for the mendaciousness and rapacity that pervaded the Enron culture.
It also provides another example of the shallowness of image. There was a huge gulf between Enron's stated corporate values and their actions. "Rarely has the difference between sermon and conduct been so dramatic. The contrast between Enron's moral mantra and the behavior of some Enron executives is bone-chilling. Indeed, the Enron saga teaches us the limitations of corporate codes of ethics: how empty and ineffectual they can be. . . . Among Enron's stated core values were respect, integrity, communication and excellence." In reality, the collapse revealed corporate greed and misbehavior at its worst. To make matters worse, accountants whose job it is to provide the certification of rectitude of financial documents provided the tools used by executives to steal. The famous business schools should look long and hard at the methods by which they delivered morally bankrupt MBAs almost totally lacking in any moral fiber.
No one should have been surprised. It all started in the mid-eighties. Several Enron executives played fast and loose with the truth, and the result was an oil trading scandal. Ken Lay kept the executives on his staff. Talk abut a message to the employees. From then on, the only thing that mattered was getting the huge bonuses that depended on meeting certain targets. It didn't matter that the people hired to build the plants were completely inexperienced, or that Enron executives [ticked] off lcitizens and governments where they were building plants. It was all about making a lot of money for themselves.
Ironically, the nickname for the corporation was the "Death Star," and jokes about the "crooked" E symbol were rampant long before the collapse. The company created an arrogant culture that refused to hear any bad news and those who dared to suggest that things were not going well were transferred or removed. One executive had filed papers noting substantial cracks in a pipeline in Panama a year before gas leaks caused an explosion that killed more than thirty people. For his trouble, he was transferred to another project.
Several of the executives went on to other jobs. For example, Tom White, then Vice-Chairman of Enron Energy Services, is now Secretary of the Army under George W. Bush. Scary thought. Enron was consistently ranked as one of the top companies and studied in business schools. What a shame no one was around to remind us the emperor was naked.
Cruver's narrative is clear and suspenseful even though we know the outcome. He takes complicated financial instruments like derivatives and explains them in such a way that even a dumb lay person (pun intended) can understand them.
Rating:
Summary: Some of these folks need to serve jail time
Review: Cruver was an inside witness to the greatest act of economic terrorism ever. Enron had hired nothing but the best and the brightest. They bragged about letting go 15% of the workforce every six months; those who could not measure up to the intense standards of competitiveness set by their colleagues and supervisors. Of course, this pressure has been suggested by some to be one of the root causes for the mendaciousness and rapacity that pervaded the Enron culture.
It also provides another example of the shallowness of image. There was a huge gulf between Enron's stated corporate values and their actions. "Rarely has the difference between sermon and conduct been so dramatic. The contrast between Enron's moral mantra and the behavior of some Enron executives is bone-chilling. Indeed, the Enron saga teaches us the limitations of corporate codes of ethics: how empty and ineffectual they can be. . . . Among Enron's stated core values were respect, integrity, communication and excellence." In reality, the collapse revealed corporate greed and misbehavior at its worst. To make matters worse, accountants whose job it is to provide the certification of rectitude of financial documents provided the tools used by executives to steal. The famous business schools should look long and hard at the methods by which they delivered morally bankrupt MBAs almost totally lacking in any moral fiber.
No one should have been surprised. It all started in the mid-eighties. Several Enron executives played fast and loose with the truth, and the result was an oil trading scandal. Ken Lay kept the executives on his staff. Talk abut a message to the employees. From then on, the only thing that mattered was getting the huge bonuses that depended on meeting certain targets. It didn't matter that the people hired to build the plants were completely inexperienced, or that Enron executives [ticked] off lcitizens and governments where they were building plants. It was all about making a lot of money for themselves.
Ironically, the nickname for the corporation was the "Death Star," and jokes about the "crooked" E symbol were rampant long before the collapse. The company created an arrogant culture that refused to hear any bad news and those who dared to suggest that things were not going well were transferred or removed. One executive had filed papers noting substantial cracks in a pipeline in Panama a year before gas leaks caused an explosion that killed more than thirty people. For his trouble, he was transferred to another project.
Several of the executives went on to other jobs. For example, Tom White, then Vice-Chairman of Enron Energy Services, is now Secretary of the Army under George W. Bush. Scary thought. Enron was consistently ranked as one of the top companies and studied in business schools. What a shame no one was around to remind us the emperor was naked.
Cruver's narrative is clear and suspenseful even though we know the outcome. He takes complicated financial instruments like derivatives and explains them in such a way that even a dumb lay person (pun intended) can understand them.
Rating: 
Summary: Recommend
Review: Definitely an engaging read. And for that, I rate it a 4-stars, in spite of some negatives mentioned below. The book captures effectively, the plight of employees watching a highly reputed company implode. The author's analysis of the situation of his co-workers, higher-ups, whistle-blowers, etc. is quite effective. The confusion of outside parties exposed to Enron (investors, analysts, etc.) is personified by the author's friend who is a research analyst on Wall Street. However, the author was but an employee for 8 months, that too at a division that never took off (which kind of puts him low on the dashed-expectations scale). Plus, he was not directly exposed to the level of management that orchestrated various happenings. Nor does he have deep insights into Enron's relationship with its auditor and any ensuing commissions/omissions. These don't take away from the fact that the book is still a good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Know your own anatomy
Review: First off, this is a very interesting read if you are unfamiliar with the situation. Brian did a nice job, he's very funny, and I think you will enjoy it. He is, at times, jaded, but understandably so. Personally, I had access to numerous Enron corporate execs, corporate counsel, corporate accountants, investment bankers, consultants, etc. for several years in the 90s. Truth be told I was only a fly on the wall at the outset of this mess but I have learned a great deal. With the help of others like Brian I hope that will continue. The only thing wrong, from my perspective, with this book is that the author does not fully understand the "greed" that overtook the company. He thinks nothing of writing a book that supposedly analyzes this greed. Yet, he thought nothing of doing things that were clearly unethical, possibly illegal, and downright GREEDY for his own benefit AFTER the house of cards collapsed. His experience on E-bay is a good example. Obviously he felt, as many of us do, that one set of rules applied for his superiors, and another set of rules applied for him. Unfortunately the text is presaged with an "ethical lecture" from his alma mater. In light of this irony, I feel it puts some egg on the face of UT's B-school but the preface is still relevant. Conversely, the argument can be made that ethics must be taught in society LONG before people attend a graduate school. Greed is Greed people. Let's face it. In short, this is a GREAT book! I hope that MANY, MANY former Enron employees like Brian choose to do the same. The truth often has many facets and the real truth is never known until the majority have told their story. Nice job Brian, hope I haven't been too critical and I hope you have a great career.
Rating:
Summary: totally unexpected - hilarious!
Review: I bought this book thinking I would just learn about the Enron mess, and HOLY COW was I surprised! A tragedy? Yes, but also absurd. As strange as it sounds I was laughing out loud, couldn't put it down because it was fun to read. The author does explain Enron's business and what happened, and as he says it's "not about energy"...but this book also takes you through Enron's wacky culture, with real people and real events as they unfolded from the inside. I felt like I was getting the real story, with political and media agendas brushed aside. Anyone working in the corporate world should read this book to understand how/why Enron failed and to learn what the signs are (the signs that the author and others at Enron missed). This is one of those rare non-fictions that doesn't put you to sleep. A fun, easy, and extremely informative read!!
Rating:
Summary: Hysterial and VERY Informative book
Review: I have read several books on the Enron story, and I have to say, this is one of the best. Cruver's sense of humor is hysterial, and it makes the book fun to read. But, it also provides a lot of insight and a lot of truth behind Enron.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but much is public record
Review: I listened to the unabridged version on audio CD. This was really interesting. This is the first-hand account of a lower level professional at Enron who worked there for about 8 months before the bankruptcy and scandal erupted. This was not a real "insider" as far as the people he dealt with and what he did there. It's still interesting as far as learning how the day-to-day worked at Enron for the "normal" employee. You get peeks into the hiring process, training, how quarterly evaluations were handled, basically a bird's eye view of the typical joe at Enron. The rest is his recount of basically what's in public records, appeared in newstories, and a few things about what higher-up revealed to him about Enron. I really knew little about Enron before reading this, so I didn't mind that probably 60-70% of this was recanting media stories. For someone with good knowledge of the key players and issues, this probably will not hold your interest. If you want to know what the average guy at Enron observed and how Enron operated from his view, this is very good and funny. The title is a real misnomer. The author witnessed no greed first-hand at Enron, but pontificates on greed based on the news stories, etc., that any of us could in any event. Coming from someone who while not appearing greedy, but pretty close, selling Enron items on E-Bay that he took with him, he wasn't necessarily the best person to discuss greed. Rationalizing that Enron owed him falls a little short. A good insider's view from the ranks.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Wait for the Movie
Review: I must admit that I bought this book when I heard that my favorite young actor Christian Kane was going to play Cruver in the CBS-TV movie The Crooked E, which is based on the book. However, I hadn't expected to enjoy it as much as I did. Cruver writes with charm and wit. His descriptions of the goings-on at Enron are very good; his tales of the duck-hunting trip (which included an explanation of what had gone wrong that even I could understand) and of his visits to the psychiatrist were wonderfully funny. I feel as if I know him and that, if I did, I would like him. I can definitely picture Brian Dennehey as the mysterious "Mr. Blue" and Mike Farrell as Kenneth Lay. My only criticism is that there was little about his wife and their relationship. Didn't they talk about the situation at all? Maybe that will be emphasized a little more in the movie, as Shannon Elizabeth will be playing Courtney Cruver. But I consider the book to be well worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Opportunistic writing
Review: It is very obvious from the first chapters that Cruver wrote this book to cash in on the Enron story. He would most likely not deny it since he relates himself how he tried to sell internal company-wide emails on e-bay, but just don't buy this book thinking you'll learn the underworld of Enron, or any new information at all.
As another reader mentioned, he joined Enron during its last year of existence, and not in a key position within the company. Although he does a good job at displaying the corporate attitude of Enronians, he's not sheding any new lights on the subject. The book is mostly descriptive, not explanatory: there is no real analysis about what went wrong.
The audio CDs made my commute more exciting, but you could learn more about Enron in one WSJ article.
Rating:
Summary: THE SAGA CONTINUES ...
Review: It was great going through Brian's contribution to the saga that is Enron.
Having been involved in the restoration of the deleted .pst files / emails that was vital to the successful indictment of the "Three British Bankers"- Bermingham,Darby,and the bouncer turned Investment Banker, Gary Mulgrew by the FBI, I have been more than interested in understanding how opportunity, power, and trust can be abused and misused so easily. It is simply an amazing world. But the actors were brilliant.
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